Consequences
by Free-Yourself-x
Summary: Ray's been in a bad mood all day, and unfortunately for him, Tyson is determined to "fix" it. [Catnip Prompt]


A/N: This short piece is from a longer story I wrote years ago that was never published or finished. I thought some people might get a kick out of it, so I decided to clean it up and post! Here it is! Enjoy.

* * *

**Consequences**

* * *

Kai entered the living room, groceries in tow, with Tyson and Hilary following. He started towards the kitchen as Hilary announced their return to the others. Peering into the living room again, he found Max watching television, Kenny typing on his computer, and Ray sprawled out on the couch while he messed with his blade—looking as irritated as he had all day.

While the others had bugged their teammate for explanations of why he was in a bad mood, Kai knew that when Ray stated that he "just was", he meant it. Everyone had off days; Kai was certainly no exception. He supposed that Ray having a bad day seemed a bit more questionable because he was typically very friendly. Seeing him snap at Tyson during breakfast had been a little shocking, he had to admit. Tyson had offered to cheer him up, but Ray had declined and told him to let him be. Tyson, however, had not been partial to the idea; messing with Ray was at the top of his agenda.

"Hey, Ray! We got you something at the store!"

_Speak of the devil._

Tyson, with the object placed strategically behind his back, sauntered over towards Ray. Kai sighed, taking care of the last of the groceries, and moved into the living room as well. He sat down beside Max just in time to catch Ray lifting his eyes from his blade.

"You did?" he asked, clearly confused. "Wha—"

Max, Kenny, and Hilary broke out in hysterics as Tyson reached over the back of the couch and poured catnip _all over _their teammate. Ray froze for a second before picking up on the scent and letting out a long, drawn-out sigh. He set Drigger down on the table and sat up, wordlessly brushing the grandiose amounts of catnip off of his hair, face, and clothing. Even Kai cracked a smile at the sight, as immature of a prank as it honestly was. Tyson, on the other hand, could not stop laughing.

"S-sorry, d-dude!" he apologized in between chuckles. "I-I just thought you n-needed some cheering up!"

Ray groaned, "Yeah, great. That's really funny."

Max tried to stop laughing, but to little avail. "Sorry buddy, but let's face it! You _have _been a pretty sour kitty today!"

Clearly frustrated with them, Ray didn't say another word and leaned back into the couch. Everyone else seemed to get their laughter out within the next minute, and Kai could see the guilt growing in Tyson's eyes. To be fair, they should have left Ray alone, but he had a feeling that the neko-jin would get over it soon enough.

"You okay, Ray…?" Hilary asked softly—cautiously.

"Yeah," Ray responded. "Just tired."

T_oo bad the catnip doesn't actually work, _Kai thought to himself with a smirk.

* * *

"Guys! _Guys_! C'mon, let's do something! Let's _do _something!"

Kai sighed, and beside him, Tyson groaned loudly. To say that Ray was hyper would be an understatement. Sprinkling (rather, _dumping_) catnip over the Chinese blader had started out as a simple joke; they hadn't thought it would actually have an effect, but now that Ray was currently perched on back of the couch and talking a thousand words a minute, it was clear that they had made a _very_ bad mistake.

"Ray, you've been going nonstop for an _hour_ now," Hilary whined, throwing her head back. "Give us a break!"

"_Guys, _why are you all in a bad mood? I mean—okay, so I was in a bad mood earlier—but now I'm _not_—it's pretty weird—so we gotta do something! Now is the time!" Ray demanded, plucking at the couch with his nails. "I have all this energy now! Who wants to blade? Let's blade! I'm really _feeling _it right now! I can't stay inside anymore! I'm going _stir crazy_! Guys? Guys! _Guys_!"

"Oh, my freaking god…" Tyson muttered under his breath. "What did we _do_?"

"Tyson," Kai said sternly. "_Never. Again._"

The Russian honestly had never seen Ray act so out-of-character. Typically, he was calm, collected, and balanced, but for the past hour, he had been driving everybody crazy. Truthfully, it was their own fault, but Kai still couldn't understand how his friend had somehow managed to break two lamps, rip the mudroom rug to shreds, run frantic laps around the house, and unsympathetically bite the hell out of Kenny all in less than an hour. Everybody else seemed to share his shock—specifically Max, who couldn't stop laughing.

"Max!" Kenny called out, placing a bandaid over his hand where Ray had drawn blood. "What are you doing? Get over here and help us!"

"I'm writing a letter to the rest of the White Tigers!" the blonde explained, chuckling mischievously. "Someone has to warn them about the dangers of catnip!" He lifted his head. "Ray! How ya doing, buddy?"

Ray perked right up, placing his hands on Kai's head so that he could lean forward. "I'm _great, _Maxie! Just great! Hey! Tell Lee I said hi! Oh, and tell Mariah—_wait_! _NO! _I shouldn't say that out loud. Oh, wow, that was almost really bad. I almost told you guys about the time we—_wow_! I can't believe I almost did it again! Lee would _murder _me if he found out about that. Okay, just tell Mariah I said hi too! There, that's good! Does that sound good, Max? I like it. It's simple, but clear, don't you think?"

"Ha-ha-ha!" At this point, Max was doubled over and gasping for air. "_Per-fect_!"

Knowing how uncontrollably manic his teammate was, Kai initially hadn't minded the hands on top of his head. However, when Ray started kneading, enough became enough. He stood up, clutched the neko-jin by the collar, and dragged him—scrambling and fighting—out of the room.

Based solely on the cries and pleas for help, the neighbors probably believed that Ray was being murdered.

"No! KAI! NO! STOP! HELP!" Ray cried out, attempting to sink his teeth into Kai's arm. "NOOOOO!"

He opened the door to the bedroom they were currently sharing and shoved Ray inside. He locked him in, ignoring the immediate and persistent scratching at the door from the other side.

"Goodnight, Ray."

"_It's only 7 o' clock_!"

* * *

Kai _had _returned to the room to rescue Ray that night. However, when he had opened the door a half hour later to get him for dinner (fully expecting the neko-jin to jump out at him), he found that Ray—lying upside-down on his bed and literally _purring _in his sleep—had crashed _hard_. He had tried to shake him awake, but his friend simply groaned and swiped at his hand. Deciding that Ray probably needed the sleep, Kai had given up and returned to the living room.

Two in the afternoon rolled around the next day, and Ray _still _hadn't risen. Kai had checked on him quite a few times, but he refused to get up. Tyson raised his arms and said, "That's it! We've killed him!"

Around 2:30, Ray finally dragged his feet down the hall, looking like a complete and utter mess. Kenny seemed to be mildly concerned that Ray would still be wound up, but that wasn't the case. He had dark bags under bloodshot amber eyes, his hair was askew, and he could hardly muster up the energy to stay awake. He sat down at the dinner table, holding his head in his hands.

"Ugh. Sorry, guys…. I'll replace the lamps," he apologized meekly, rubbing his temples. "I feel hungover."

"I have to say," Hilary noted, biting her lip, "no cat I've had ever reacted like _that _to catnip."

"Tell me about it!" Tyson exclaimed. He turned to Ray, unable to stop the grin from crossing his features. "So… _Mariah_, huh?"

Ray lifted his eyes to Tyson, the slightest glare making its way onto his face.

"The next time I'm in a bad mood and I tell you _not _to try and 'fix' it…" he hissed, "_don't _try to fix it."

Needless to say, they never poured catnip on Ray again.


End file.
